One of the best films released so far this year, “At Any Price” signals the arrival of Iranian-American Ramin Bahrani in the ranks of major US directors.

Switching gears from his small neo-realistic slices of the Big Apple (“Chop Shop”) and the North Carolina where he was born and raised (“Goodbye Solo”), Bahrani turns his laser focus on a larger canvas.

It’s the surprisingly cutthroat world of Midwestern farming, vividly depicted in a classic-style American tragedy with echoes of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden.”

Dennis Quaid, who deserved an Oscar for “Far From Heaven’’ a decade ago, may finally get at least a nomination for his finely limned portrait of Henry Whipple, a third-generation farmer who keeps the family spread going by selling genetically modified seeds.

Glad-handing Henry is starting to lose longtime customers, much to the annoyance his demanding retired dad (real-life former Elvis Presley bodyguard Red West).

And to his great distress, neither of Henry’s sons are remotely interested in carrying on the family business.

The oldest is off climbing mountains in Argentina. The younger one, Dean (a fine Zac Efron, light years from his ludicrous performance in the title role of “The Paperboy”), is a stock car driver who can’t wait to get away from his overbearing dad and out of their small Iowa town.

Spurning the sweet neighbor (Maika Monroe), who’s his biggest booster, cocky Dean gets sexually involved with Dad’s mistress (Heather Graham’s best work in years) and suffers some serious speed bumps in his quest to become a NASCAR driver.

Henry, meanwhile, comes under investigation for illegal reselling of the copyrighted seeds, an act that also may implicate his long-suffering but loyal wife and bookkeeper (Kim Dickens).

Things get much worse from there as father and son’s fates become tragically intertwined.

When Quaid schemes to buy a late neighbor’s farm from relatives at graveside, turns a deaf ear to pleas from a struggling former associate (Chelcie Ross) for help and steals a customer from a business rival (Clancy Brown), the acts will come back to haunt both him and his race-car driving son.

The performances, the staging, the editing and the script (co-written by newcomer Hallie Elizabeth Newton) are expert all across the board, building to a solid dramatic payoff and devastating comment on contemporary American society.

Working a fourth time with cinematographer Michael Simmonds, Bahrani creates a vivid sense of place.

“At Any Price’’ trafficks in a heightened, non-ironic style of drama that isn’t particularly fashionable these days, but in the hands of Bahrani it couldn’t be more skillfully rendered.